Light and Lavender is a novel in verse, originally written as a companion piece to Jackie Boy.
Light and Lavender follows a side character from Jackie Boy, Morgan, as they come to terms with deep-buried trauma as well as finding a way to love who they are.
Morgan feels alone in the world.
Morgan has no real friends.
Worst of all, Morgan has a secret.
This is Morgan's diary.
Jumping between the ages 11 and 22, Light and Lavender tells the tale of Morgan's abuse, as well as them learning who their true friends are.
The first draft is available on Wattpad, while the finished version is able to be found on Amazon.Read Light and Lavender here: https://www.wattpad.com/story/212856876-light-and-lavender
Light and Lavender contains examples of:
- Adults Are Useless: The teachers in Morgan's elementary school do not do anything to help Morgan, who is being bullied. In fact, Morgan's fifth grade teacher appears to be annoyed at Morgan seeking conversation with her.
- All Men Are Perverts: 11-year-old Morgan starts to believe this.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Morgan at both ages eleven and 22 get ostracized by their peers. In grade school, the teachers don't appear to do anything.
- Alpha Bitch: Hudson, the ringleader of the college student clique.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Carter Eden in the 11-year-old narrative. If she is good and nice and beautiful, and bad things don't happen to her, Morgan concludes that they are a bad and ugly person because something traumatic has happened to them.
- Big Bad: Teddy.
- Big Brother Bully: Ross, Morgan's brother is when he is mentioned.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: Morgan has issues with their brother Ross, lost an aunt to suicide, and has been abused by the hands of their cousin. So, yeah, the Ziegler family has issues.
- Blanket Fort: Morgan wishes they could hide in one.
- Break the Cutie: Morgan gets broken throughout the two narratives. They get better.
- Broken Bird: Morgan, in both parts of the narrative.
- Cain and Abel: Younger Morgan worries that their relationship with their brother is so bad that this might just happen to them. It is their paranoia talking.
- The Bully: Katie when Morgan is 11, Hudson when Morgan is 22.
- Children Are Innocent: Morgan, though a victim of sexual abuse, still has very little idea about innuendo or how sex actually works.
- Comfort Food: Morgan craves hot cacao and wants to devour a bag of chocolate in two separate occasions
- Coming of Age Story: For Morgan, at age 22.
- Companion Cube: Morgan's diary, Clyde.
- Creepy Uncle: Rather, creepy cousin, Teddy.
- Cute Mute: Adult Morgan, for a little while.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Young Morgan's life to Adult Morgan.
- Drink-Based Characterization: Hot cacao for Morgan earlier on, indicating that they crave childhood comforts, and later in the narrative, lavender lattes, because it shows the soothing nature of a warm cup of tea.
- Drugs Are Bad: In the poem "Villains, Revisited" "Drugs are bad..."
- Drugs Are Good: "...Except for weed and alcohol."
- Dysfunctional Family: Morgan and their brother Ross have always butted heads to the point that Morgan's paranoia as a teenager was that he would try to kill them in their sleep. Morgan's medicines have helped with settling their paranoid thoughts.
- Eating Lunch Alone: In elementary school, the kids sit with Morgan because they have to sit with their class. Meanwhile, the trees are the only beings that keep adult Morgan company at lunch.
- Elective Mute: Adult Morgan once finding out that their classmates do not like them. It doesn't last.
- Extreme Libido: Morgan wonders if they are hypersexual because of their abuse.
- Face–Heel Turn: Teddy, later on. Morgan does not forgive.
- Girls Love Chocolate: Chocolate appears to be Morgan's favorite food, though Morgan later uses they/them pronouns as an adult.
- Growing Up Sucks: 11-year-old Morgan hates that their body is developing and hates that they are growing up because they figure that they wouldn't have been assaulted if they didn't have the body of a teenager.
- Heart Trauma: Morgan mentions going to the cardiologist every few years to check up on an unnamed past heart problem.
- Heal the Cutie: Later, after going to a mental health clinic, Morgan finally begins their healing process.
- Hollywood Autism: Averted, though Morgan still has difficulty socializing with peers at any age.
- Honor Thy Abuser: Morgan ultimately does not press charges against Teddy, even after getting confirmation that he did molest them as a child.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: The sentiment goes for both young and adult Morgan
- I Just Want to Have Friends: A central theme in both narratives.
- Imaginary Friend: 11-year-old Morgan has a bunch of them. Some come in the form of purely imagined figures, or they talk to a life-sized Barbie or wishes for things from a fairy godmother that they made out of craft supplies. Morgan is a very lonely kid.
- Innocence Lost: Though appearing already a bit jaded and world weary for a fifth grader, Morgan's innocence is ultimately lost after being sexually abused.
- In Vino Veritas: Alcohol is what helps Morgan open up to Teddy about how they felt regarding the abuse.
- Jewish and Nerdy: Morgan is stated to observe Passover, attend shul, and refers to the gift of money their grandfather gives them as "gelt." They are also a nerd.
- Junior High: 11-year-old Morgan dreads Middle School.
- Kids Are Cruel: The children in Morgan's grade school ostracize them and bully in ways that cannot be detected by the adults.
- Little Professor Dialog: Occasionally implemented by 11-year-old Morgan. They are autistic and reading seems to be one of their special interests, so it is not actually that surprising.
- Liquid Courage: Morgan drinks gin at a Thanksgiving to get the courage they need to confront Teddy after more than ten years of silence on the matter.
- Mad Artist: Adult Morgan sees themselves as this.
- Lonely Doll Girl: 11-year-old Morgan plays with dolls to feel some semblance of friendship and connection.
- Narrative Poem: The book itself.
- The Noun and the Noun: The title, Light and Lavender.
- Ode to Intoxication: The premise of the poem "A Mental Breakdown Don't Take It Seriously."
- The Power of Rock: Life starts getting better for Morgan as they declare they will become "Rock as fuck," and base their new wardrobe and worldview on Rock and Roll.
- Secret Diary: This novel is told through diary entries from different times in Morgan's life.
- Shout-Out: Many!! Many allusions to the musical Hair, with some characters named after characters from the musical. Other shout-outs go to the novel Speak and the memoir Shout, both by Laurie Halse Anderson, as well as a shout out to the novel Freak by Marcella Pixely, where the protagonist also names her diary Clyde.
- Straw Vegetarian: Averted. Morgan mentions vegan food, but doesn't make a big deal about it.
- Sweet Baker: Once Morgan starts getting better, they display signs of being this.
- Sweet Tooth: Morgan loves chocolate.
- Switching P.O.V.: Jumps between Morgan aged 11 and 22.
- Thicker Than Water: Despite all the pain they went through, Morgan's need to keep the family together ultimately outweighs their need to tell them about the abuse they endured.
- Trans Tribulations: Averted, though Morgan is non-binary.
- Trauma Button: Adult Morgan's life beings to go similarly to how their childhood days were spent, that is, finding themselves friendless, brings out the repressed trauma of abuse and bullying.
- Troubled Child: Adults notice that something is clearly wrong with 11-year-old Morgan, but do not do anything to be helpful.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Eleven-year-old Morgan gets in trouble at school for wearing clothes that the school deems as "not appropriate." Morgan feels like they can no longer be a kid now, and needs to act like a teenager/adult because sexual things are what teenagers and adults do. They also appear to be having an existential crisis regarding whether or not they are actually a real person.
- Teens Are Monsters: Teddy, when Morgan is eleven. He grows up and regrets his actions, albeit all too late.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Teddy, who is smart, a leader, and all-around a well-liked individual. He molested Morgan when Morgan was 11 years old.
- Wild Teen Party: The parties that Morgan never gets invited to.
- Web Serial Novel: Originally posted on Wattpad, the first draft is still available to read, albeit the ending being different than the published version.
- Writers Cannot Do Math: A meta example, regarding the surprisingly large size. There were some... formatting issues, resulting the dimensions being off, thus resulting in a surprisingly large sized book.
